


The Other Side

by RobinRoost



Series: Surviving Apart, but Living Together [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Isolation, Lots o’ mentioned characters, Obi-Wan is basically the avatar, One Sided Communication, Prophecy Obsessed Qui-Gon Jinn, Qui-Gon Jinn Lives, Quinlan Vos does not like Qui-Gon, Shmi Skywalker Lives, Sort Of, Therapy, This isn’t really very kind to him, background anidala, idk how to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26983900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinRoost/pseuds/RobinRoost
Summary: There was a door in the bottom of the temple that was always closed. All the Younglings told stories about what was on the other side of it. For as long as most of the padawans and initiates could remember, it had been locked. No amount of slicing, prying, or force pushing could open it.Anakin asked Master Qui-Gon about it once. His Master’s (though not the same type of master as before) face grew cold and distant and told him never to mention it again. What was behind that door was dangerous and a threat to the stability of the galaxy.Obviously, he had to investigate.
Relationships: Aayla Secura & Anakin Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker & Quinlan Vos, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Quinlan Vos
Series: Surviving Apart, but Living Together [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969477
Comments: 39
Kudos: 500
Collections: Anything But Qui-Gon





	The Other Side

There was a door in the bottom of the temple that was always closed. All the Younglings told stories about what was on the other side of it. For as long as most of the padawans and initiates could remember, it had been locked. No amount of slicing, prying, or force pushing could open it. 

Anakin asked Master Qui-Gon about it once. His Master’s (though not the same type of master as before) face grew cold and distant and told him never to mention it again. What was behind that door was dangerous and a threat to the stability of the galaxy.

Obviously, he had to investigate. 

At least twice a day, he went down to the hallway where the door was and reaching out with the force, trying to slice through, force it open, anything. It refused to budge. There was an invisible bubble in the force around the rooms that he couldn’t get through. 

He kept coming for about a week, until one day, he heard someone coming down the stairs towards him. 

Anakin watched from a hiding spot in the vents as a Kiffar with a yellow marking across his face made his way to the door. The knight knocked and pulled up a chair. There was another knock from the other side of the door. 

The Kiffar smiled (it was a mournful smile) and started to speak. Anakin strained to listen to what he was saying.

“Hey Obi-Wan,” the Kiffar said. “It’s me. I just got back from another mission. Aayla’s doing great. She is almost up to my shoulders now. I had to teach her how to ballroom dance for this one. Kept stepping on my toes. Remember when we first tried to ballroom dance and Bant tripped over your feet and we crashed into Master Sinube?”

The Knight continued to talk and Anakin froze as a breeze began to move through the vents.  _ Uh oh _ . The dust began to move and Anakin tried to breathe very carefully. 

“...Jinn’s luck still holds. I know what you’re going to say, but still,” the Kiffar sighed. “You were always more selfless than I was. What are you, 26 now?” He let out a bitter laugh. 

There was silence and then a series of knocks from the door. The Kiffar let out a wet chuckle. “Yeah. Me too. I miss you, you know? I tell you every time I come here, but it doesn’t make it any less true. Bant is probably going to come down later. Garen and Reeft are on a mission.”

Anakin’s nose was itching. The wind was picking up and the dust swirled in the bent. He plugged his nose and stayed as still as he could.  _ Don’t sneeze. Don’t sneeze. _

“Well, talk to you later. Keep up your katas. The old man has to kick the bucket sometime soon.” 

With that, the knight stood up, put the chair back, and walked out of the hallway. Anakin let out the sneeze he had been holding in as soon as he was out of earshot. Dropping down to the floor from the grate, he processed that new information.

It was a person behind the door. Named Obi-Wan. Now that begged the question of why they were seemingly trapped inside that room.

Anakin couldn’t think of anything but theories of why this Obi-Wan would be behind the door. Each one was as far fetched as the rest, and eventually he got into trouble for not paying attention to his classes. After a stern scolding from Master Qui-Gon, Anakin tried to push the door and who was behind it out of his mind. For a time, he was successful. 

————————————————————

Anakin had forgotten about the door beneath the temple. It wasn’t until a joint mission with Padawan Secura and her master that he was reminded of it at all. He was fifteen now, and much taller, though Master Qui-Gon still towered over him.

He watched the pair approach, and realized he recognized Aayla’s master. It was the Kiffar he had spied on. The Kiffar, introduced to be Knight Vos, was rather stiff. Not at all the goofy scoundrel that Aayla described. It took Anakin about ten minutes to figure out why.

Master Qui-Gon and Knight Vos were barely on speaking terms.

Everytime Vos looked at Qui-Gon, there was a seething anger hidden right behind his eyes. All exchanges were short and clipped. They barely even recognized each other’s existence. At first, Anakin had been righteously outraged on behalf of his master, but then he overheard a conversation in the hallway. 

“Please control your temper, Knight Vos,” Qui-Gon reprimanded. 

“Or what,” Vos snapped. “You’ll throw me in a containment cell, locked in isolation until the day you pass into the force to prevent some force forsaken  _ prophecy _ like you did that  _ twelve year old  _ boy?”

Qui-Gon stiffened. “I did what I must,” he replied coolly. Vos only rolled his eyes.

“Of course you did,” Vos snarled. “You named yourself judge, jury, and executioner for a child that was purer than you will ever be.”

“He was dangerous,” Qui-Gon countered, his eyes flashing. “His powers were a curse that could destroy the fabric of this universe.”

“You must be messed up in the head if you really think that,” Vos hissed. “They were a gift, just like my Psychometry or your apprentice’s midichlorian count.”

“You are letting personal feelings cloud your judgement,” Qui-Gon deflected. “Those powers were uncontrollable.”

“That is why he was learning control, you pompous baboon,” Vos let out a broken laugh. “The force darkened considerably after your actions,  _ Jinn _ . Yes, he was my best friend, but you would have to be force-null in order to have missed that.”

With that, Vos stalked out of the corridor and towards where Aayla was sitting in their quarters. Anakin was left reeling. He did some quick math, and choked. Vos had said that Obi-Wan was 26, minus 12, plus 3... which meant that he had been in isolation for  _ 17 _ years. 

And his master had done that.

_ Over a prophecy. _

**_Like the one Anakin was supposedly a part of._ **

Anakin wanted to be sick. A new fear awoke in him. Something terrifying. What if Qui-Gon did the same thing to him? Would he spend the rest of days alone, trapped by himself?

They completed the mission, but there was something new in the air. A darkness, a fear, that slipped in between his bond between him and Master Qui-Gon. Anakin didn’t flinch away (he was too old and too practiced for that) but he could no longer put all of his trust in his master. After all, who's to say Qui-Gon wouldn’t do it again?

—————————————————————

Anakin decided to visit the door. He stared at it for the longest time. It had been almost a month since the revelation, and somehow it was really only sinking in now. He couldn’t imagine what it would have been like, being isolated like that. 

Gardula had used whips and shock collars as punishments, but never had any of the punished slaves been sentenced to isolation. Yes, families were sold separately, but there were communal slave quarters. 

There were support systems in place. 

To have all of that ripped away… Anakin would not have survived. He would have gone literally insane. He couldn’t allow Obi-Wan to suffer the same fate. Despite being a stranger, Anakin felt some responsibility towards the man on the other side of the door.

Remembering what Vos had done, he knocked on the door, and pulled up a chair. Anakin waited with baited breath in the silence. The knock from the other side came, and he let out the air he had been holding.

“Hi,” Anakin whispered, before clearing his throat and repeating it louder. “Hello. I’m Anakin Skywalker. I’m a padawan. I know you have no idea who I am, but I just thought that maybe you would like someone to listen to?”

There was one knock.

“Does one knock mean yes?” He asked.

A knock responded back, and Anakin smiled slightly.

“Well, I’m Anakin, like I said. I… uh…” Anakin combed his brain for things to talk about. “I like piloting. I used to podrace, but I don’t anymore because it is unbecoming for a jedi.” As he started to talk, more words kept flowing and soon he was describing blowing up the trade federation ship. Anakin talked for what seemed like an hour.

Eventually, his comm buzzed and he had to leave, but Anakin promised he would be back again. 

It became a pattern. Most days, Anakin would make his way down and tell him about his day, his friends, the shenanigans he got into. Despite talking to basically a door, for some reason, Anakin got the feeling that on the other side, Obi-Wan was listening with rapt attention. It made talking easier.

Eventually, he realized that Obi-Wan might know Morse Code, and asked him. The singular knock was good enough, and Anakin threw himself into learning it, so he could have Obi-Wan’s responses. Initially he would bring a stylus and flimsy and a ‘cheat sheet’, but it became easier. Apparently Obi-Wan was terribly snarky. Anakin could feel sarcasm even though he could only communicate by knocking. 

Somehow, this was better than talking to the Chancellor.

It was just so easy to voice his frustrations to the door. Obi-Wan would respond with comfort, but advice that always felt better than the Chancellor’s. Following it left him feeling more in tune with the force and the Jedi around him.

It was nice.

—————————————————————

It had to happen sometime. Vos found him down there one day, chatting about the droid he had tried to upgrade, but ended up setting fire to part of the gardens in the Room of a Thousand Fountains. At first the Kiffar just stared at him disbelievingly, but smiled, and gestured for him to continue. Anakin was slightly more hesitant, but finished the story anyway.

“... and now I am assigned to be cleaning the refectory for the next week,” he moaned dramatically.

  * – – • – – – – – – • – • – • – – – – – • • –



_ POOR YOU _

“Oh stuff it,” Anakin groaned half heartedly. 

– – – • • • – • •

_ :D _

“You are incorrigible,” he grumbled. Vos let out a snort.

“Hey Obi-Wan,” he said, announcing his presence. 

(Anakin had asked whether he could sense who was outside the room, but Obi-Wan explained that he couldn’t)

– – • – • • – – •

_ Q! _

“I didn’t realize you got another companion,” Vos continued. “I think we’ve met.” He tilted his head, examining Anakin. “Yeah! You’re Aayla’s friend!” 

Anakin breathed a sigh of relief, but Vos was eyeing him. He noticed that Vos was tapping something on his leg. It took him a few moments to translate.

J-I-N-N

Anakin gulped, but the tapping continued.

S-E-N-T-?

He shook his head vehemently and tapped back a response. Vos nodded, and they were both interrupted by knocking.

  * • – • – • – • • • • • • – • • • – – • •



_ U ALIVE? _

“Yeah, we’re good,” Anakin replied. Vos smiled, and they launched into a conversation about the different pranks they had played over the years. Obi-Wan chipped in different ideas for them to try out.

If all the High Council member’s robes were dyed in outrageous, yet surprisingly coordinated color schemes the next week, no one needed to know that a blue Twi’lek, a blond human, and an enabling Kiffar were the culprits.

—————————————————————

It took until Anakin turned 19 for him to work up the courage to ask Quinlan how Obi-Wan ended up in that room. Quin just sighed, and brought him to a private, unmonitored area. 

“He can bend,” Quinlan explained quietly. 

Anakin blinked in confusion. “So can I?” 

Quin snorted. “No, I mean, he could bend elements. Water, Air, Fire, and Earth. He could shape them to his will. It’s hard to describe, but basically he could manipulate them. Jinn is a believer in prophecy, and one of those prophecies is about a bender. It’s unclear, and I haven’t read it myself as it’s for masters only, but apparently it was enough for Qui-Gon to be paranoid enough to take drastic action.” He paused, and took a deep breath, and Anakin felt him release his anger into the force.

(Anakin was slightly jealous as he could never manage it as well)

“One day, we were heading off to bed, and the next?” Quinlan swallowed hard. “I couldn’t feel him in the force. I tore up the whole temple searching for him, until I heard the pounding from the door in the hallway.”

The image of a younger version of the Kiffar, his face frantic and desperate outside the familiar door, appeared as the memory slipped past Quin’s shields. 

“Obi-Wan couldn’t escape. Somehow, Jinn tied it to his life force, so as long as Jinn lives, Obi-Wan is trapped. The Jedi code says that we can’t kill Jinn, and we can’t send him to purposefully dangerous assignments in the hope that he dies, so all we can do is wait for him to kick the bucket.”

The silence that filled the air was permeated by Anakin’s disgust and horror. The old fears from so long ago, that maybe he would be the next victim of Master Qui-Gon’s fanaticism over prophecies threatened to swallow him. 

How could his master do that to a child? Over a prophecy? Yoda had always said the future was in motion, so why didn’t his master listen?

_ “Anakin, you need to calm down!” _

It sounded so garbled. He could barely hear the words over his heart pounding in his ears. There was an unnatural rage that threatened to consume him. He was drowning, drowning, and…..

And then he remembered Obi-Wan. 

Obi-Wan who managed to joke and talk in his own way. 

Who listened so carefully.

Who told him that emotion was natural, but not to be controlled by it.

Wasn’t that what Master Qui-Gon had done?

Did he want to be like that?

Taking deep breaths, he came back to himself. Quinlan’s face was staring at him, so worried. Anakin took a few more moments before he trusted himself to speak.

“I’m alright,” he forced out. “Sorry. I lost control.”

Quinlan’s expression softened. “It’s alright,” he soothed. “But let’s go back and get you some food before Jinn calls you back.”

—————————————————————

Anakin knocked on the door, and slumped into the chair, putting his head in his hands. The glove covering his metal hand made for a comfortable pillow. The return knock resonated in his ears. 

“Hey Obi, it’s Anakin,” he started. “I just… It’s been a long couple of weeks. The reason we weren’t here was because I got a mission to protect a Senator…” he explained everything that happened from the assassination attempts, to the Geonosian arena. He didn’t skip anything, not even his flirting attempts.

“I’m serious though. ‘I don’t like sand.’ I thought I was better than this,” he sighed. He told him about his fight with Dooku and losing his hand. Taking a deep breath, Anakin told him about the wedding. He paused as a series of knocks began.

  * • • • • – • • • – • • • • • • • – • – • – • – – – – – • • • – – • •



_ HAVE HER COME? _

Anakin nearly cried out in relief. Obi-Wan’s opinion was the most important opinion in his life (besides his mom, who was currently safe on Alderaan at Obi-Wan’s prompting). 

“Yes. I will bring her sometime,” Anakin choked out. He explained his knighting (which got him a  _ CONGRATS _ ) and then the war. Obi-Wan was so silent for so long.

  * • – • • • – • • – – – – – • • • • • • – • – • –



_ I NEED TO THINK _

“Should I come back tomorrow?”

– • – – • • • •

_ YES _

With that, Anakin left, but he didn’t come back the next day. He was shipped off to the war front. He sent a comm message to Aayla to have her explain to Obi-Wan why. War waited for no man

—————————————————————

The artillery was pinning them down. Anakin looked left and right as he ducked beneath cover. Qui-Gon crouched next to him. Despite their distance (Anakin had yet to confront him), they still worked well together. 

“We need to take out those heavy cannons!” Anakin yelled as the blasts filled the air. Qui-Gon nodded in agreement, and at Anakin’s signal, they moved. 

Together they cut a line through the droids, using the force to boost their speed. The bunker defending the cannons got closer and closer, and then they were there. 

Anakin sliced through the droids, and cut through the center of the cannon, disabling it. He knew Qui-Gon was at his back doing the same thing with the other one. He turned around to check on the progress and froze. The cannon was disabled, but there were a group of commando droids entering the bunker.

Leaping into action, Anakin began a fury of attacks. The droids dodged most of them, but there were at least three that got caught. Qui-Gon was doing something similar. They worked in sync until the last commando droid was cut in half.

“I think that we are in the clear—“ 

A single shot fired. Qui-Gon gasped as he clutched his stomach. A commando droid, though cleaved in two, functioned enough to get one last shot in. Anakin caught Qui-Gon before he fell to the ground. 

“No, no, no, no,” he whispered as he felt his master slip away. Qui-God’s eyes were wide and desperate as his hands feebly grasped at Anakin’s tabards.

“Survive. Bring… bring balance,” he gasped, before fading completely, hands falling limp and Qui-Gon’s light blinked out of the force.

Anakin screamed.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Across the galaxy, a door slid open.

**Author's Note:**

> Soooooooo I know I am supposed to be working on Pirate Queen, but that chapter is taking a lot of energy.
> 
> So what do I do? Write literally anything else including this!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Btw the Morse code didn’t translate especially well from my doc to Ao3 so sorry about that
> 
> Also I didn’t really edit it so please excuse any grammatical, spelling, or other errors :)


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